Arkansas Supreme Court Upholds New Voter ID Law

Legislators drafted the law in question after the state's supreme court struck down a similar law in 2014.

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The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a voter ID law the state passed in 2017 — after striking down a similar law in 2014.

This time around, the court — which has changed substantially in the intervening years — ruled the law complied with the state constitution because it gave voters two ways to vote without a photo ID.

Under the law, voters can sign a sworn statement verifying their identity under penalty of perjury or they can present a qualifying ID to the county board of election commissioners by the Monday after the vote.

The day before the Arkansas ruling, a Missouri judge struck down several provisions of that state's voter ID law. The day before that, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene to stop a similar law in North Dakota. In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that law could disenfranchise close to 20,000 people.